Football writer Alex Keble explains how Aston Villa achieved their 4-1 home win over rivals Newcastle United in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.
It isn’t often that getting knocked out of a competition has a galvanising effect on a football club, but then again Aston Villa’s agonising defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final was no ordinary exit.
It was a performance, and on-the-night victory, that proved to the Villa players they belonged at that level - and can get back there again.
Saturday's victory over Newcastle United was emphatic proof of that. They were unstoppable here: suave and in control in the first half, a freight train in the second.
It might even have gone down as their best performance of the season were it not for the PSG game just four days earlier. Frankly Newcastle, dishevelled by the end, didn’t stand a chance.
But beyond the confidence flowing through Villa, this was also a tactical victory: a game in which Jason Tindall was unable to respond to Unai Emery’s perfect game plan.
Emery’s surprise 4-2-2-2 formation confounds Newcastle
Villa’s win was thanks to two intertwined factors: domination of central midfield and attacking through the centre-left space.
Villa's attacking areas v Newcastle
It was a tactical masterstroke from Emery, who made the highly unusual decision to instruct both wingers – John McGinn and Morgan Rogers – to invert into the middle.
This meant that, along with Marco Asensio, Villa had three No 10s (circled in black) crowding around Newcastle’s sole No 6, Sandro Tonali.
Time and time again Villa easily cut passes through central midfield, with Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara out-manoeuvring Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton before releasing passes into the three No 10s, as you can see below.
Emery also gave instruction for Ollie Watkins (and, occasionally, one of the three No 10s) to make runs beyond the Newcastle defenders.
This was repeatedly successful because the mismatch in midfield left Newcastle’s defenders looking to help Tonali in front, distracting them from runners behind.
It set the pattern throughout the first hour and then led directly to Villa’s flurry of goals.
Villa’s accelerate away with Tindall unable to react
At Premier League level, it’s rare for a mismatch to go on for a full 90 minutes because usually the losing manager finds a way to react.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, Tindall didn’t.
Ian Maatsen’s goal, which gave Villa a 2-1 lead, was a combination of the above: Villa dominating the No 10 space, Newcastle getting pulled around as a result and gaps appearing in the centre-left area.
Below, note how the overload in midfield sees Kieran Trippier (circled in red) dragged all the way out to Rogers, who then slips the ball to Asensio, tracked by the isolated Tonali (circled in black).
Watkins is then free to release Maatsen into the space Trippier has vacated, and the left-back scores.
An almost identical thing happens for the third goal, again with Watkins now entering that open midfield and laying it left to substitute Jacob Ramsey, who crossed from the byline to force an own goal.
It was the perfect way to take on this Newcastle team - and Tindall had no answer.
Perhaps he could have dropped a second midfielder alongside Tonali, or instructed a centre-back to push up more aggressively on to Rogers, but instead the game never left its initial rhythm.
In Tindall’s defence, he was unlucky the crucial second Villa goal came just as he was preparing to bring on Anthony Gordon, who against Emery’s ultra-narrow 4-2-2-2 may have stretched the pitch.
But the move came too late, and Villa deservedly pulled further clear.
Villa have momentum but Newcastle are still in control
The tide appears to have turned in Villa’s favour. Eleven wins from their last 12 matches in all competitions – and five in a row in the Premier League for the first time since April 2023 – has lifted them to within just three points of Newcastle in third.
Even with the FA Cup to juggle, the depth of Villa’s squad and their surging momentum puts Emery’s side in a strong position to finish in the top five.
Certainly they will feel invincible after today. Tielemans - who had 98 touches, more than any other player on the pitch - was outstanding in the middle, but just as significantly, Tyrone Mings and Maatsen, players whose minutes have been limited this season, were among the best performers.
Key: Green - successful pass, yellow - chance created, red - failed pass
Better still, Ramsey set up the third goal and substitute Amadou Onana scored the fourth, highlighting the options Emery has to rotate in and out of the side during the run-in.
Newcastle are just as well-stocked, and despite a bruising defeat at Villa Park remain third.
They look fresher and more confident than both Nottingham Forest and Chelsea in particular, and can anticipate rebounding back from what, on recent evidence, was a one-off.
But this was no one-off for Villa, whose performances and results keep getting better and better.
At this rate they’ll enter the summer not only a Champions League team again but, just maybe, in a position to challenge at the very top of the Premier League.
